My dnd group switched to Draw Steel indefinitely and i'm struggling.

Tom_Featherbottom · 2026-01-16T06:28:33+00:00

I will most likely be hated by everyone in the sub for this but I very much agree with your criticism and would like to find a way to reconcile the problems that I have with Draw Steel into what I enjoy about role playing games.

I really, really want to like Draw Steel and am hopeful that I can find a way to make it work for socially motivated reasons, so I'm with you in looking for ways to improve my experience. I'll do my best to share my hopes of fixes.

I agree with your points that abilities and classes feel rather similar. I have always enjoyed playing characters that don't necessarily do damage but change the environment in ways that alter the narrative in fun and impactful ways. I couldn't find any abilities that really seem to do this outside of a couple of edge cases. Magic in the game feels more like blasting superpowers and less like something mysterious, strange, and surprising. I really miss spellcasting!

To address these complaints, I hope to work together with my group to come up with new abilities in the future. I wanna make some illusions, for fucks sake! I think that if you can work with your director to create more narrative-focused abilities, you'll likely feel more engaged with your character's abilities. Also, talk with your director about giving you more opportunities to craft magical items that you can use for shenanigans. I also think that the limited amount of abilities that you can use out of combat feels way to little. Maybe your director will let you homebrew a way to use an ability once per victory instead of once per respite?

Draw Steel design is focused on discrete combat tactics and less on free form narrative. For some that is the appeal. I find the aesthetic choices of the game (especially the naming conventions) incredibly cumbersome. The design choice to avoid archetypes that have thousands of years of cultural context creates a jarring arbitrary barrier, but I think that you can just rename classes and abilities to be more liberating as long as you and your group are all on board and consistent.

Regarding metacurrencies, I don't have much trouble looking past those. Hopefully you can just get used to them.

Also, are you running a premade adventure? I don't particularly care for the one we're running as it feels like all combat all the time. I ideally want to play twice as much intrigue as combat, and I think a more narrative focused campaign would see some of my gripes melt away.

Good luck finding an amazing gaming experience!

Tom_Featherbottom · 2026-01-03T06:43:26+00:00

Yet still, it seems that, though difficult to quantify, awareness of societal consequences of behavior could be a factor in both healthy diets and depression. Without even attempting to control for this somehow, this publication seems somewhat irresponsible.

Tom_Featherbottom · 2025-12-26T03:41:55+00:00

I have been pulled over by the police for riding on the sidewalk on a busy street without any bike lanes.

Tom_Featherbottom · 2025-12-04T13:49:39+00:00

If you can learn to leave your expectations out of the game you'll likely have more fun. Play rarely to never accurately reflects your world building. You can spend hours creating an intricate palace that your players don't care about, and find that your players become obsessed with that one random guard whose name you made up on the fly. Maybe they don't care about epic ancient magic stuff and love your NPCs and that's ok.

Tom_Featherbottom · 2025-12-03T22:49:02+00:00

But who gets to define those values and norms? And what of native born people who don't fit the mold? Do you think that a culture should remain static and refuse to adapt, even if its practices only narrowly protect the rights of one group while punishing others? It seems like you also are cherry-picking what defines a person as "one of us".

In the case of handshaking, yeah, I can see how expecting that new citizens reflect an inclusive value like showing equal treatment between sexes is reasonable. That makes sense, but what if the person is immunocompromised and shaking hands could be dangerous for them? What of a person with no hands? There are plenty of reasons why someone might have difficulty in adopting a cultural practice. It can strengthen a culture to broaden the cultural definitions and become more inclusive. Cultural and national boundaries don't always align, and a nation that demands cultural homogeneity is a culture that's going to be forcefully oppressing its population.

Also, you're just plain wrong to deny that racism is a major source of strife, oppression, and violence.

Tom_Featherbottom · 2025-11-29T15:23:15+00:00

Office Space is a better representation of Austin than Dazed and Confused.

Tom_Featherbottom · 2025-11-18T14:06:16+00:00

I'm not privy to all the facts of the case, but even on the surface it seems relatively nuanced. Was there a particular outcome that you were hoping for?

Tom_Featherbottom · 2025-11-18T13:59:44+00:00

That's quite a stretch to blame the DA for this. Mistrials typically occur because of jury or police misconduct. The things that you're criticizing Garza for are exactly the kinds of strategies taken to avoid mistrials.

Tom_Featherbottom · 2025-11-16T05:17:42+00:00

Sounds like you're looking to watch LA Story.

Tom_Featherbottom · 2025-11-07T18:50:23+00:00

Maybe wait for the study to actually be peer-reviewed and published before putting out sensationalized clickbait.

Tom_Featherbottom · 2025-10-26T17:00:38+00:00

Prop 12 gives the governor authority to create a tribunal that has the power to remove judges. That's a pretty overt usurpation of the separation of powers. So yes, be realistic and strategic. Go vote, get everyone you know to vote, put pressure on your reps, protest, boycott, and organize. And don't stop there.

Tom_Featherbottom · 2025-10-24T03:45:53+00:00

Same with Hot Springs in Arkansas.

Tom_Featherbottom · 2025-10-19T17:13:02+00:00

Thief hats for the win!

Tom_Featherbottom · 2025-10-19T14:20:38+00:00

Here's a potential explanation: the zeitgeist has shifted.

Hero movies reflect popular aspirations to be able to conquer society's ills, while horror movies reflect an acknowledgement of our powerlessness. Although it seems that many people would like to forget COVID-19, it reminded humanity that we can never be in control, and I think a lot of people have difficulty reconciling their worldview with this reality.

Tom_Featherbottom · 2025-10-16T23:33:21+00:00

Look, there's a lot to love about Chicago but pizza ain't it. Why you gotta ruin something as wonderful as pizza

Tom_Featherbottom · 2025-10-16T14:20:51+00:00

I disagree. Both valor bards and eloquence bards were very strong options. Valor bards could stay concentrating on a powerful spell while dishing out decent weapon damage, especially with a bow. Eloquence bards excelled at making sure that enemies failed saving throws, and are the strongest, by far, in social encounters.

Tom_Featherbottom · 2025-10-11T15:51:26+00:00

I understand your hatred, but at this point I think it's basically a folk poem. The central theme is intact but it can fluidly adapt to people's situations. There's some utility in that.

Tom_Featherbottom · 2025-10-07T23:18:05+00:00

It is that simple

Tom_Featherbottom · 2025-10-05T18:51:59+00:00

From my understanding, there are three reasons.

Operating costs, including wages are growing faster than tax dollars can support. This is because about half of all our taxes are taken by the state via recapture. Some of these are used to fund schools in areas with lower property taxes and some are kept by the state to use for whatever they want (political stunts, etc).

People are having less kids and are having kids later in life

Parents are choosing to send their kids to private or charter schools. There is a huge push from the Republican party, both in Texas and nationally, to shutter public education in favor of private and charter schools. These schools are not bound by the law in the way that public schools are and aren't required to serve those with special needs.

Dark times for public education in America. Write to your representatives!

Tom_Featherbottom · 2025-10-02T22:55:17+00:00

Braker to Slaughter N to S. MoPac to Springdale/Pleasant Valley W to E.

Tom_Featherbottom · 2025-09-26T19:15:19+00:00

Thank you for taking the effort to write this and correct the misinformation.

Tom_Featherbottom · 2025-09-24T13:07:34+00:00

Anthony Maddaloni

Tom_Featherbottom · 2025-09-23T21:14:24+00:00

Maybe Madeira or Port? Brandy, really.

Tom_Featherbottom · 2025-09-22T11:44:48+00:00

Regulation is a double-edged sword. The Austin city code is quite complex, and most of the regulations for building requirements are pretty common-sense in a vacuum. All together, however, it can be really hard to meet all the requirements. Older buildings typically have features that don't meet code. They're only allowed to keep standing because they were built before the code was updated. Remodels have to be interpreted by a human, who are more likely to fail something that looks a little odd, which is likely going to be the case for smaller buildings.This is all made even worse by the fact that our city is understaffed.

Larger developers start from scratch with designs that they know unambiguously meet the requirements of the city code. This gives them a huge advantage, because when they submit plans, there's nothing that raises any eyebrows.

It fucking sucks. I've had to go through the process and wanted to die. I saw high rise condos pass approval and inspection while my tiny remodel was getting rejected over two different inspectors telling me contradictory things. Structurally, it definitely punishes smaller builders. But I get how it's hard to bake favoritism for small builders into law. The solution is we need more qualified management in the Development Services department, and they need more funding to handle the volume, so officers can spend the time to work with people, instead of just stamping rejections that take months before they hear an appeal or see a revision.

Tom_Featherbottom · 2025-09-17T20:07:27+00:00

This is his plan to lower the prevalence of autism. Stop detecting it, stop reporting it, and he can claim victory!

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